


Et tu, Phil?

by RoseRose



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Evil Phil Coulson, HYDRA Phil Coulson, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, M/M, Steve Rogers Feels, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, implied Steve/Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:55:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27841111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseRose/pseuds/RoseRose
Summary: SHIELD, including Phil Coulson is Hydra. Steve has been betrayed. The only upside is that he found Bucky.Scene from a world where Phil Coulson is HYDRA. No happy endings here.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11
Collections: STB Bingo: Round One, Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	Et tu, Phil?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to treesramblings for the beta!!!
> 
> For the STB Bingo square: Coulson Lives
> 
> For the Tony Stark Bingo:
> 
> Title: Et tu,Phil?  
> Collaborator Name: RoseRose  
> Card Number: 4022  
> Square Filled (Letter/number AND prompt): A4 Good Guys Gone Bad  
> Ship/Main Pairing: Implied Steve/Bucky  
> Rating: T  
> Major Tags: Hurt no comfort, betrayal, HYDRA Phil Coulson, mentioned brainwashing, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes  
> Summary: SHIELD, including Phil Coulson is Hydra. Steve has been betrayed. The only upside is that he found Bucky.
> 
> Scene from a world where Phil Coulson is HYDRA. No happy endings here.  
> Word Count: 926

Steve and Bucky were in hiding. Not that Bucky was really himself yet, but at least Steve had him. How had everything gone so wrong? God, it had been so close—he had nearly been brainwashed rather than managing to escape with Bucky. Who knew Rumlow’s ego would be good for anything?

Steve had been so _happy_ to find out that Coulson was alive. He had been mad at Fury for lying to them, but at least someone he had thought was a good man was still alive.

Then Project Insight had happened.

Steve hoped Natasha had gotten away, but he had no way to contact her—not anymore. Everything was compromised. Hell, he had no idea how long he was going to be able to hide himself and Bucky. He had no idea how long it would be before Bucky was able to truly help. It wasn’t like he had any experience with brainwashing. Natasha and Clint had told him a little, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough, especially not with the technology apparently involved. Rumlow had mentioned a chair, but Steve had never seen it.

Steve had seen Clint. His eyes had been like they were when he was under Loki’s control. SHIELD had the scepter—and, given everything, that meant HYDRA had it. Given the way Coulson had looked at Clint… Steve absolutely didn’t want to think about it. He had thought they were well on their way to getting together. Instead, Clint was now brainwashed into following orders. He had only just started to get over the guilt from last time. Hopefully, when this was all over, Clint could recover.

Bucky shifted minutely and Steve cursed to himself. He had forgotten to give Bucky permission to go to sleep—and wasn’t that the icing on the cake? Bucky needed permission to fucking sleep. _Permission._

The word tasted sour in Steve’s mouth. No language could begin to describe Steve’s emotions.

“Go to sleep.” Referring to him as Bucky just caused confusion, but Steve couldn’t bring himself to call Bucky ‘Asset.’ It was easier if he just didn’t refer to him as anything.

At least he was here. After all this time, Bucky was _here_ —Bucky was _alive_. Maybe not in his right mind, but, well, something was better than nothing. That was really the only thing he had—and he only had it because Rumlow had fucked up. How had he gotten everything so wrong? _Why_ had he trusted SHIELD? Right up until that moment, walking down that hallway, when Rumlow had said two sentences, he had trusted SHIELD. Those two sentences shattered all that: “Hail HYDRA. Captain America, meet the Asset.” 

Steve would know that face anywhere. “Bucky?” 

And it had broken his heart to hear those words in response… “Who the hell is Bucky?”

At that point, Steve had punched Rumlow and then dragged Bucky with him. That had been followed with the question from Bucky, breaking Steve’s heart for… well. He had lost count how many times that day alone. “Are you my new Handler?”

God help him, but Steve had answered yes. He still wasn’t sure if he had done the right thing.

On his way out, the betrayal had grown. That’s when he’d seen Clint’s eyes. Maybe Clint had still been in there somewhere, because—instead of sniping him from a distance—he had been close enough that Steve could see and avoid the arrows. And then, Coulson… Coulson had told Clint to kill him. Steve had seen how much Clint—how much Natasha—had respected Coulson. And yet, there he had been, betraying Steve…and worse, betraying Clint’s trust.

It killed Steve that he had left Clint behind. But, even if Clint was controlled, he was _safe_ , and Steve himself clearly wasn’t. He didn’t know whether Bucky would have been safe, but he wasn’t ever leaving Bucky behind again.

Now they were hiding. Steve had no idea who was HYDRA and who wasn’t, and even for the few he was sure of, he had no way of contacting them. He was sure Tony wasn’t HYDRA, but he was also sure Tony was so high profile that Steve would be taken by HYDRA in SHIELD clothing before he even got a chance to get anywhere near Tony. Bruce had probably already vanished, and he had more experience vanishing than anyone. Thor hadn’t been seen on Earth in a few years.

As for Natasha—he wanted to believe she couldn’t be HYDRA, more than anything, but she had been so close to Coulson, and she had been working on her own agenda the entire time they had worked together. The question was moot, anyway. If Natasha didn’t want to be found, he would never find her.

Tony was probably his best bet, in truth, but Steve had no idea how he would get there. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if Tony would take them in. He had caught the news once while out buying supplies, and the Winter Soldier was wanted for killing Howard and Maria Stark. No one could tell it was Bucky Barnes due to the mask, but it was clearly the same person to whom he had ordered asleep.

He had no guaranteed allies, but his enemies were everywhere. This was worse than being in Nazi territory. This time, there was no team at his back, and it was his fault. If he hadn’t let Bucky fall, all those years ago—

Everything was broken. And Steve had no idea how to even start to fix it.


End file.
